


Seeing Clearly

by dodau



Series: Seeing clearly [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Descriptons of graphic injury, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-21
Updated: 2013-09-21
Packaged: 2017-12-27 05:33:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/975019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dodau/pseuds/dodau
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lorne is injured on a mission and Sheppard decides he needs family</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seeing Clearly

**Author's Note:**

> The character of Angela Lorne is not mine. She appeared in a lovely fic set while Atlantis is in SF bay. Unfortunately I can't remember the author so I apologise for not asking permission. I have posted this already on Live Journal and nobody yelled.

Angela shows the last customer out of the door and turns the sign to closed. She reaches up to close the bolt and that's when she spots him. It's raining outside and his hair is soaked, plastered to his head, like he's been out in it for a while. She recognises the face immediately, but it takes her a few seconds longer to remember his name, though it's one that features in all of her brothers letters.  
Sheppard, Colonel John Sheppard, Evans commanding officer and even before her brain is through providing all of that information she's reopened the door and gestured for him to come inside. 

His step is heavy across the threshold and with the automatic gesture of him unbuttoning his overcoat she sees the flash of blue and knows what it means. She's seen Evan in the same colour often enough. He's wearing his dress uniform, the one they use for formal meetings, for ceremonies and for going to tell the relatives of.....

“No”  
The word is a moan and her knees are buckling under her as she realises why he's here. He catches her before she can fall and helps her to a chair. He looks puzzled for a moment then understanding crosses his face.  
“He's not dead” he's hugging her against his wet coat as he tried to undo the damage her misunderstanding has caused   
“He has been injured but he's not dead and he's not going to die”

Once she has recovered and made them both some coffee, Latte, she remembers for him, he tells her more. How Evan had been in a village when it had been raided by enemies and that he and his team had saved countless civilians, women and children mainly. But he had been injured in the process. Badly.

“The doctors think he'll never regain his sight” Sheppard explains and Angela can hear in his voice that he knows how much that will devastate Evan. Not only will he lose his career but also his painting.  
“He didn't want us to inform you yet but we....I thought he should have someone there with him. Not many of us there have close family, they tend to send the loners to us but Evan does and he needs someone now. I thought you'd know who best to come, it's a long way and you'll be gone a while”  
He doesn't mention that it may be dangerous, she's already guessed that from the tone of his voice. She can also tell there's something he's not telling her.

Her brain is already making plans, working out what will be best for everyone. Their parents are older, fit and healthy but maybe not up to strain of travel or the risk. Brian, her husband, can take care of the children with help from his and her mothers and Sandra, her assistant at the cafe can mind the store for as long as needed. Plus she wants to be the one to take care of Evan. He always took care of her when they were kids, now it's her turn to do it for him. She looks up at Sheppard  
“When do we leave”

He goes home with her, first to her parents home, where she explains the situation to them and Sheppard answers the awkward questions as best he can seeing as Evans work is so highly classified. Then onto her house and Brian, Marcus and Nicky, where she packs a bag and arranges everything as best she can in a few hours. She's lucky that Brian is not only supportive but capable and when they leave he has everything under control. Before they leave Sheppard takes her into the den and makes her sign what seems like dozens of confidentially contracts and official secrets documents and the light. He makes a valid attempt to explain but all it really boils down to is she'll see when she gets there and she can't tell anyone what she does see.

Once out of the house he asks her permission to stop at the mall. He explains their pick up time is not for another couple of hours and a lot of people have asked him to pick up stuff. He mentions that they don't get a lot of stuff on base and Evan would be grateful for extra too. She's used to sending Evan care packages so her brain tells her it's a good idea but once they;re in the stores she can't think of anything to get that doesn't involve sight in some way. Sheppard comes to the rescue yet again and by the time they leave she's spent an atrocious amount of money on the credit card that Evan gave her for this kind of thing.

They drive to the military base and she expects to be put onto a plane. Instead they're shown into a small waiting room and Sheppard clips on a radio and contacts someone to let them know they're there. Then in a second, they're somewhere else in a flash of light and the blink of an eye. Another waiting room, similar to the first in the way all waiting rooms are but fresher, newer, and walls made of metal not stone or plasterboard. She turns to say something to Sheppard but he;s stood in front of a window and behind him she can see.....

She can see Earth. Just like it looks like from space, in all the movies and the documentary s about the shuttle and Apollo and all of that. Earth is there, huge and blue in the window and she can see America but not the west coast because it's under a blanket of thick grey cloud. Sheppard smiles at her  
“It gets better”

They're on the Odyssey II. One of almost a dozen space ships that Earth has. That they go to other planets on, and they fight aliens with. He tells her that bit when she asks about the first Odyssey. She asks if Evan gets to travel on ships like these and he says sometimes and no wonder her brothers work is classified, he works in space.  
“He comes from California” she mumbles and Sheppard grins  
“He just works in Outer Space”  
She can't help but grin back at him  
“So you and Evan have the coolest jobs ever”  
“It gets better” he says again and she wonders just how it could.

The next place they go seems to make a liar of him. A concrete bunker deep underground by the feel of it. Everything is grey, walls, floor ceiling. There are bare pipes and coloured stripes painted on the floor to help people find their way round. She's not impressed, even when a General shakes her hand and says what a good man and officer her brother is. She's met plenty of Generals in her time though this one does seem quite cool and he's almost as hot as Sheppard despite being two decades older. He murmurs in her ear that he's slipped some beer into her stuff for Evan and she wonders whether space travel warps the brain.

She's still not impressed when she's taken for a medical and the very nice doctor uses all kind of strange sci fi looking gadgets that Angela knows aren't standard hospital issue. She goes right on being unimpressed right up to the moment Sheppard finds her again and says come and see this. He pulls her into a room that's pretty standard. Conference table, a dozen chairs, coffee machine, international flags, etc and a large picture window overlooking another larger room. Sheppard brings her attention to a ramp in which sits a large metal ring, covered with strange symbols. It catches her interest, it's obviously alien in design and construction but it's just sitting there so what's so special about it. It moved and she watches transfixed as things on it lock into place and then there's a, a, a whoosh of blue and she's looking at a vertical rippling pool of very alien water.  
“What is it” she manages then squeaks in surprise as people step out the pool, soldiers in uniforms similar to ones she's seen Evan wearing in the past. Sheppard is grinning so wide his face almost splits  
“It's a Stargate” he says “It makes tunnels to other planets. And we're going through it in two hours”

She's speechless and struggling to assimilate that when another voice behind them speaks  
“It does a bit more than that Sheppard” and they turn to face a blonde woman who's smiling almost as wide as Sheppard  
“Tunnels to other planets is fine” Angela assures Colonel Carter after Sheppard introduces them, she's feeling a little overwhelmed now and Carter can obviously tell because she just presses a mp3 player into Angela hand  
“For Major Lorne” then she leaves the two of them alone again.

Sheppard takes her to the mess, he says it's evening at their destination so it's best if they eat now. He's obviously well known because all through the meal people come up to him with well wishes and small gifts for Evan. She places them all in a bag and by the time they finish it's almost full. A big black man with a gold tattoo stops them on their way out of the room and offers a dozen audio books with the simple words  
“While he recovers”  
“Congratulations” Sheppard says “You've just met your first alien”

“Evan seems to be popular here” she says as they walk along the corridor.  
“He served here for five years before he transferred to me.” Sheppard explains “ A lot of people know him, some owe him their lives, some owe him money, he;s a pretty mean poker player. He's a good guy to have watching your back”  
“Do you owe him money or your life” she teases and he shrugs uneasilly  
“Both”  
The question escapes before she can stop it  
“Are you and Evan dating” then she takes a horrified breath as she realises she's just outed her brother to his co. But Sheppard doesn't even blink  
“No, there's someone else I missed my chance”

At eighteen hundred hours exactly, they report to the gate room with all their luggage. There's an extra bag with Angela s and when she sneaks a look inside as well as the Generals beer there expensive coffee, even more expensive chocolate, a computer program that turns text into speech and a block of potters clay. She smiles at that, Evan hates sculpting, he hates the feel of the clay and they way it stays under your fingernails for days. But maybe if he can't see to paint then he will grow to like it.

The Stargate comes to life and Sheppard touches his radio again.  
“Atlantis this is Sheppard, permission to come home”  
Angela catches her breath then relaxes. Atlantis, a code name for a base on another planet, maybe by an ocean. She fiddles with the radio she's been given as the response comes  
“Doors open Colonel, come on home, everyone's missed you”  
He turns to her  
“Ready” and she nods  
It takes a deep breath and a lot of courage to walk up the ramp and not flinch as the blue swallows her. If Evan can do it, so can she.

Now she's impressed, so much that she just stands in one place, mouth open, staring around her in awe. It's light, and bright and shiny and so beautiful and oh Evan lives here. Hands relieve her of her bags and Sheppard is steering her away from the gate, her feet move automatically but her mind is still taking in her surroundings and the fact that the city itself is welcoming her. A console rises from the floor in front of her and Sheppard stops, a wry grin on his face.  
“Guess you share more than looks with Lorne”  
He doesn't explain his cryptic comment but she doesn't care. She wants to see her brother and then the rest of this place, in that order and she looks at Sheppard who reads her mind  
“Welcome to the lost city of Atlantis, come on lets get you to the infirmary to see Lorne. I'll give you the tour later”

Evan is propped up in bed, his eyes closed and she's surprised that they're not bandaged. He has some nice bruises on his arms and one really good one on his cheek but apart from that he looks uninjured and almost healthy. She steps forward to go to him but Sheppard grabs her arm  
“His eyes.... they're...really bad” he stumbles for words. “The doc thinks it's better to let the air get at them but they're horrible to look at”  
She takes a breath  
“Thank you”  
Then she walks calmly across the room and tries not to picture what she's about to see.

There's a chair next to his bed and she sits on it and touches his arm gently  
“Ev”  
He's awake instantly and his head turns to face her, searching for a sight of her...

With eyes that just aren't there any more. Instead each socket holds a melted horror, that looks like a blob of white melted candle wax. She sucks in a horrified breath and he freezes then reaches out his hand to the table beside the bed.  
“Sorry”  
His hands find a pair of sunglasses and he slips them on, hiding the dis figuration from view  
“Ange is that you”  
“Yes Ev it's me” and she grasps his hand.  
“What are you, Sheppard sent for you” he guesses easily and she realises that he knows his co as well as Sheppard seems to know him.  
“He came to fetch me, said you needed me. Oh Evan”  
“I know, I'm pretty well fucked this time”  
“Maybe not mimino”

The voice comes from behind Angela and she twists in her chair to see who it belongs to. The man looks tired, worried and something more but he smiles down at her.  
“Ah you must be Evans sestra ah sister. The Colonel said he would fetch someone. I am Dr Zelenka, Radek. I am Evans”  
he pauses and looks at the bed and Angela fills the blank, this is the someone else, Evans boyfriend and boy does that feel strange to think. She's known about Evan being gay for almost as long as he has but this is the first time she's met a partner of his.  
“It;s very nice to meet you” she says warmly “Are you Evans doctor”  
“Ah no, I am a Doctor of physics”  
“Who I said I didn't want to see” Evans tone is harsh and Radek is obviously hurt by it.  
“Evan Roger Lorne you better not let mom hear you talk like that to your friends” Angela barks out of reflex and he jerks up in bed  
“Mom's here”   
“No but I'm sure Colonel Sheppard would let me go get her if I asked”  
“He probably would” Evan mutters “But I don't want or need him here”  
She bends and puts her mouth close to his ear  
“He must love you to be here”  
Evan stills at that and she smiles at Radek  
“You had something to tell him Doctor”  
“Radek please ah yes I have found way to make you new eyes”

There's a very loud stunned silence at his words but once she's picked her jaw up from the ground she manages  
“What do you mean”  
“The Ancients experimented in bio-engineering. We have been continuing their research because if you can grow organs then you can save lives. We have grown two hearts, some kidneys and a liver. Rodney and I have been checking but we're sure we can grow you some eyes.”  
Evans voice is rough  
“How”  
“From a cell sample. It will take a week or two, they have to grow but you will be as good as new”  
“But how will you connect them” Angela s mind is racing  
“They will connect their selves. The ancients programming is very advanced, they will bond to the optic nerves and be like originals”  
“You can do that”  
“Yes, yes it is actually easy compared with some things s we do”  
He rises to leave  
“Je to pravo mimino miluji te”

There's no question of her going home until Evan is fixed so they allocate her some quarters near his and give her the orientation speech that all the civilians get. He's released from the infirmary the following day and she gives him his gifts and describes the people who sent them as best she can. She can tell he's surprised by how many people thought of him and she's proud of how well thought of he is. While they wait for his new eyes to grow she gets him to tell her every single little detail of his life since joining the Stargate program. The good and the bad, all the injuries and the losses and all the things he's experienced because of it. Radek comes by most nights and she questions him too, both about Evan and about his own experiences and by the end of the fortnight a little part of her wishes she were single and had a skill they would want.

It's almost an anticlimax after the wait for the eyes to be ready. Dr Keller takes Evan into the operating theatre and takes out his ruined eyes then with Dr McKay s help grafts the new ones into place. Angela and Radek wait outside and before long they're joined by Sheppard and then other faces, she;s seen around the city and that she recognises from San Francisco months before. The exotic royalty who turned out to be aliens, not only from another planet but from a galaxy far, far away as Sheppard jokes. He's saved from the threatened retaliation by everyone emerging from the theatre and Keller announcing that everything went fine.

This time Evans eyes are bandaged and they have to stay that way to allow the optic nerves chance to bond. They take turns amusing him, with the audio books, mp3 player and of all things .the clay. Keller goes ballistic when she sees the state of her infirmary bed, covered with clay over almost every surface but when she sees the very passable human figure that Evan is producing she relents but vows to make him scrub the bed when he recovers. Radek seems to spend most of every night there and she walks in on them kissing more than once. It's sweet and she's looking forward to telling her parents that Evan has found someone special. It makes her miss Brian too and she sends him sloppy emails in the data burst to earth.

Finally the day comes and they all crowd round his bed until Keller puts her foot down and sends everyone away apart from Angela and Radek. She snips carefully at the bandages then pulls them away and hands Evan his sunglasses until his new eyes acclimatise to to the lights, which although dimmed must be quite bright after being in the dark for almost a month. She can see his eyes moving behind the dark lenses, he;s looking at Radek then at her then back at the man  
“Muj genialni” he mutters and Radek blushes, actually goes vivid red.  
“You've cut your hair” are Evans next words and Angela hand goes to her neck  
“It was going grey” she protests and he laughs at her and takes the glasses off. His eyes are big and beautiful and ... were they always that deep a brown. Surely they were lighter, like hers and the boys. Now they're a deep chocolatey brown and made you want to sink into them.  
“Well” Keller asks and he grins, a shit eating grin  
“You all look really good to me”

Keller tests his eyes later and his vision is as perfect as its been all his life. She refuses to clear him for duty for another week then chases everyone out of her infirmary. Sheppard orders him back to Earth for a weeks vacation with his family and to every ones surprise McKay orders Zelenka to take time off too. Before they can argue Angela has the pair of them packed and ready to leave. Her parents are going to love Radek.

She stops on her way to the gate room, to say goodbye to Sheppard. He's in the gym sparring with the big alien, Ronon, but they stop when she enters. She gets a hug from Sheppard which surprises her and a request to bring some of her special mix coffee with her next time from Ronon. She doubts very much if there will be a next time but she promises and then carries onto the gate room to take her fit and healthy brother home.


End file.
